December 21, 2015December 21, 2015 by Mo Marshall

The 1 Minute-a-Day December #GIVEBACK Challenge

It’s Holiday time and oh what fun! At the same time as the festive season approaches us, we, unfortunately, have a crisis going on – there has been worldwide violence and a fight for our freedoms. Because of this, my thoughts go to how we can unite to fend off fear in a peaceful way. Last year, I tweeted out every day from Dec. 1st until Christmas gifts that give back. I will do the same this year because we can never be reminded enough of the power of giving, but I do believe we can do something even more powerful.

As I sit and watch my Sunday morning shows on politics and the world, I’m frustrated. On these shows, I hear a divide of political parties and campaigns. I don’t want to hear about divide and how parties pit themselves against one another. What I want to hear is how we are working here and abroad to help other nations fight against imminent threats. How are we doing our part? Isn’t it more important that we focus on how we are uniting more than anything else?

I continue to flip from one from one Sunday morning show to the next, none of them encouraging us to unite. It seems we are so shortsighted to be covering these issues in this divided sense. In frustration of not wanting to hear the same old rhetoric, I scroll through my DVR and highlight an interview episode with Nobel Peace prize recipient, Malala Yousafzai, which I had recorded and had not gotten to watch. I feel a bit of hope enter my consciousness. I am relieved to watch an 18 yr old girl’s fight in speaking out for the education of the 66 million women of the world who don’t have access to schooling. I am relieved that she is not talking about divide. How is it that this 18 year old has such an understanding of the power of being united? Why can’t our world just take a tiny bit of this understanding and expand on it?

Perhaps the most effective response to the powerlessness that we feel is simple: to pray. And pray however you pray— through meditation, through kindness, through joy, by going to church, whatever your method. Prayer brings peace by relinquishing control of that which we cannot control. But it doesn’t stop there. We have a responsibility to bring that peace into our everyday life. We all need to really ask ourselves: “How can I be more peaceful each day and not contribute to violence in any way?” We have to start with awareness of ourselves and those we come into contact with.

I speak about energy in everything I write because I believe in the power of it. That is, the unspoken can be just as powerful as the spoken. So, perhaps the most important thing is the intent to add to the harmony in this world to gain more peace, understanding, and compassion in our everyday. If we could dedicate just 1 minute a day to remind ourselves of this intention, there would be shifts, shifts that make way for everyday miracles, and right now we need them all over the world.

What is the best way to add more peace to a violent world? What prejudices can be stopped? First, start from the inside and then reach outward. We can never go wrong with starting with our own inner work.

It’s so easy to forget what is outside of our walls when we feel crisis and hardship in our immediate lives. But, if we can give just 1 minute a day to step outside of our own hardship and challenges and look beyond, healing occurs in unexpected ways. A new vision is formed, a new awareness is created, and that is what joy and the holidays are about— another form of expressing love towards one another.